


Tell Me Everything is Gonna be Alright

by karadanverz



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, baby au, lots of ships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 06:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23466769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karadanverz/pseuds/karadanverz
Summary: On the day his best friend Nate is supposed to move in with him and his two roomates, Sara and Zari, Ray Palmer finds a baby on his doorstep. His baby, to be exact. Things get even more complicated when he finds out that the mother is Nora Darhk, who he hadn't spoken to since the last time she ran off. Ray knows he needs a team, but in order to make everything work, Sara has to find a way to coexist with their pretentious neighbor Ava, and Zari has to learn how to deal with the old feelings that arise when her best friend Amaya comes back into town.
Relationships: Amaya Jiwe/Zari Tomaz | Zari Tarazi, Nora Darhk/Ray Palmer, Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	Tell Me Everything is Gonna be Alright

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I'm back! This is basically a darhkatom Baby Daddy AU with amari and avalance rooted into the story as well. I hope you all are ready for some slow burns because I'm really excited for you all to see what's in store.
> 
> Please enjoy this fic and read the longer notes at the end for more details on the story :)

“Well, I think that’s the last of it.” 

Nate carefully set the cardboard box he was holding onto the once-empty couch and shook out his arms.

“You know what that means…” started Ray, a grin growing on his face.

“We’re officially roommates!” The pair said in unison. 

Nate almost tripped, reaching over the couch and meeting his raised hand with Ray’s for a type of high-five reserved for only the  _ most _ important bro-ments.

“Would one of you himbos like to pause your welcome party and help me take a load off?”

Zari trudged into the cluttered apartment, carrying her body weight in lamps and trash bags labeled  _ winter clothes _ . 

Her call was unanswered, however, because Nate and Ray were already looking off over the balcony and sharing plans for barbecuing once they brought Nate’s grill up.

“Are they like this all the time?”

“Unfortunately.” Sara said, smiling as she helped her friend with the load she was bearing.

“Don’t worry, Z. You’ll soon learn how loveable I am under my charming, and… admittedly douchey-looking physique.” said Nate, flashing a smile to prove his point.

“He does look like the villan from an 80’s movie.” Sara mused, agreeing with him.

Zari just punched him in the arm on her way to sit down “We’ll see, but if you touch my food you and I will have  _ words, _ young man.”

Nate nodded in agreement and Ray walked over to pat his best friend on the back “Isn’t this awesome? We have the coolest apartment in the city  _ and  _ the coolest roommates.”

“Not the coolest neighbors, though.” muttered Sara.

“Ava’s not  _ that _ bad.” protested Zari, gravitating back towards the kitchen where Sara was searching through the pantry.

Nate tapped Ray on the shoulder, “I’m lost, who’s Ava?” he whispered

“She lives across the hall.” answered Ray, “She and Sara have a bit of a feud going, though.”

“Ava hasn’t bothered to say a single nice thing to me since I moved in and she’s always on my case about  _ something _ . Last week it was about not clearing out my mailbox frequently enough. At this point, I’m convinced that she can only speak in annoyed glares.”

Nate shrugged, accepting the answer, and followed Ray down the hallway for the  _ “extended apartment tour.” _

“This is going to be a fun year.” Zari said with a laugh.

Sara pulled up a chair at the table and sat next to her “Definitely. Nate’s a good guy from what I’ve heard. He’s a little…  _ too  _ much at times, but his heart is always in the right place.”

“It’ll be interesting to have another Ray in the house.”

Sara shrugged, “Hey, all things considered, I probably wouldn’t mind living with a house full of Ray Palmers.”

“You’d never have to wash a dish ever again.” Zari added.

Before anyone in the apartment could say another word, there was a soft and muffled knock at the door.

Zari turned around, “Ray,” she shouted in the direction of the boy’s rooms “I think the Star Wars thing you ordered is here.”

There was a beat of silence and Zari dramatically peeled herself off of her chair “I guess I’ll get it.”

She was halfway to the door when Ray and Nate came in, practically launching themselves over the couch and swinging the door open.

“Pretty sure it’s just a game I bought. It’s actually part of a kickstarter I funded a few months ago. You see,the story’s a real doozy because-”

Ray cut himself off when he looked down to see the package that wasn’t there and finally noticed what was on the doormat.

A little girl- barely two months old by the looks of it- laying in a portable car seat with nothing but a diaper bag next to her.

“Uh, Sara?” said Ray, turning to face her with a panicked look on his face, “I think someone left your baby on our doorstep.”

Sara’s eyes grew wide as she made her way over to her friends who were huddled around the doorway “I’m no doctor but I’m pretty sure if I had a baby a few months ago I’d know about it.”

After a minute of shocked quiet, Zari crouched down and tentatively grabbed the handle of the carseat. “Well, we can’t just leave her out here.”

“Right.” murmured Ray, lost in thought “Right right right right right, we need to call someone or do something or… I don’t know, but we should get her inside.”

“It’s not like there’s a hotline for this kind of thing.” chuckled Sara “Who are we going to call?”

Nate sighed, whispering “Ghostbusters.” to himself, an action that caused everyone to turn to him with pointed expressions.

It was as if that moment was what it took for everyone to snap into action, because soon, the world started spinning again and everyone was on their feet, trying to figure out a plan.

“Which one of you… did this?” Asked Sara, gesturing to the baby.

Nate put his hands up “I’ve only been in town for a day.”

Sara turned to Ray who was looking down at the diaper bag “Ray? Did you…”

“Maybe.” he answered, uncertainly.

“What does that mean?” asked Zari, placing the baby on the coffee table and stepping forward, “What do you mean by  _ maybe _ ?”

“It means that I… met up with someone last year and we…  _ you know _ , but I think she would have told me if she ended up pregnant.”

He crouched down to properly look in the baby carrier and was met with wide, brown eyes staring up at him.

Ray cautiously stuck his finger out and let out a breathless laugh when the baby wrapped her own handaround it.

“Oh! Bingo!” Nate yelled in accomplishment, pulling a small envelope out of the baby bag “Ladies, Gentlemen, and mystery babies, we have a note.”

“Well, cut the dramatics. Open it,” said Zari, trying to reach over Nate to grab the paper.

Eventually, Sara got a hold of it and delicately pulled the card out of its envelope.

“Ray,” she started.

“Well that answers  _ that _ question,” muttered Zari, earning herself a kick in the back of the leg from Sara.

She continued reading, “I’m so sorry but I didn’t know what else to do. Her name is Hailey. You’re going to give her the life I would never be able to. I’m sorry. Nora.”

A silence fell over the room for a few moments as the gravity of the situation slowly started to hit like a slap in the face. This was  _ real.  _ This was happening. There was a baby that needed to be cared for and it was up to everyone in the apartment to do so, but Ray was hit especially hard by the realization that he was a father and didn’t know up until about ten seconds ago.

Sara re-read the note and let her eyes wander to the light smudges from the pen ink. Anything to avoid accepting what this all meant She broke the silence and turned to Ray. 

“Nora? As in Nora  _ Darhk _ ?” her voice was shaking yet steady at the same time.

Ray nodded and fiddled with his knuckles, cracking them with each panicked breath.

“You had a baby with Nora Darhk.” repeated Sara, trying to process it herself “That’s… okay. Okay. When and why and  _ how _ did all of this happen?”

“It’s Nora.” was all he managed to say, locking eyes with Sara and begging her to give him enough time to come up with a coherent response.

Nate walked up behind his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder “Who’s Nora?”

“I’m with Nate on this one,” agreed Zari, “who’s Nora Darhk?”

“Nora went to high school with Sara and I. We dated for a month or so.” Explained Ray.

“Yeah, and if I remember correctly, she broke your fucking heart.” Sara reminded “Having the captain of the football team crying on your couch for a week isn’t really an  _ ideal _ high school experience.”

“It wasn’t all her fault.” Ray protested, turning his attention away from the baby for the first time since she arrived “She was going through a lot of shit back then and we were too young and stupid to handle it all.”

Sara nodded for him to go on, regretting coming on with such strong words about the woman who was apparently the mother of Ray’s daughter.

“Look,” Ray started again, “we ran into each other sometime last year and we started going to lunch once a week to catch up. I really thought she was doing better since school. That turned into a relationship sort of thing, and then she just kind of disappeared afterwards.”

“And then we met Hailey,” added Nate, finishing the story.

“Well you two clearly hit it off.” Observed Sara.

“Hey, you guys  _ do _ realize that this Nora person was  _ just _ here, right?” said Zari, rushing to the door and shoving the closest pair of sneakers onto her bare feet “she’s probably still close by.”

The rest of the group quickly caught on and rushed out in seperate directions down the hallway.

Ray was the last one ready to go so he was stuck inside as the designated babysitter, despite being the fastest of the four. For the first time since he had met her, it was his turn to spend a moment alone with his daughter.

He sat down on the couch in front of the coffee table, on the very edge of the cushion. He placed both hands on either edge of the base of Hailey’s carseat and gently turned it so that she was facing him.

“H-hi.” he managed to say, his throat growing dry and his voice sounding awkward and forced in the silent apartment building. For once the sounds of the notorious Star City traffic appeared to be muted through the windows.

Hailey only blinked in response.

_ Well of  _ **_course_ ** _ she’s not going to say anything,  _ Ray thought to himself  _ she’s an infant. _

“What do you like? Do you like Star Wars?”

At that, Hailey scrunched her face up and let out a high-pitched whine that morphed into a cry.

Ray froze, unsure of what to do. He didn’t want to pick her up. Hell, he barely knew  _ how _ . Ray had never had to be in charge of a child for more than a couple of minutes and he never thought he’d need the preparation this early in his life, so he did the only thing he could think of. He started to make polite conversation.

“So you’re not a fan of Star Wars, huh? That’s okay, your… your mom wasn’t a huge fan either.” 

_ “Your mom”  _ the words felt weird coming from his lips, to say the least. Not only was he a dad, he was a  _ parent _ . A parent with Nora. Ray felt a pang of guilt in his chest when he realized that Nora had to go through the entire pregnancy all alone. He couldn’t help but think of everything he could have done for her over the course of those nine months. He’d already fallen behind in being a perfect dad.

Hailey’s crying persisted and Ray reached his finger out again, “I know you’re in a new place with new people, and that must be scary. But can I tell you a secret?” Ray leaned closer “Sara’s not as scary as she wants everyone to think she is, I promise. She gives the best pep-talks. And Z’s only scary if she finds out you’ve eaten one of her donuts, but I think you could probably get away with it. Don’t worry about Nate, either. He’s like a big teddy bear. You know, he cried when we watched Toy Story 3 together, but don’t tell him I told you that.”

Ray flashed a hopeful half smile and Hailey grabbed his finger, just as she did before, her crying slowly dissolving into shuddered gasps, before settling to nothing.

Moments later, Nate and Sara rushed back through the door, Zari trailing breathlessly behind them.

“We couldn’t find her, buddy.” admitted Nate.

“You know, for someone who just had a baby, she got in and out of here remarkably fast.” quipped Zari, flopping onto the couch. “She must have done some parkour shit and leaped into a taxi or something.”

“Well if we can’t find her, what do we do now?” asked Nate.

“I don’t know,” Ray answered honestly “I guess for now we do the only thing we  _ can _ do and we keep the baby.”

“Well I think you should definitely take a paternity test,” said Sara “Even if we think she’s yours, it’s better to know. I don’t know how the whole custody thing works, but Laurel could probably help you with that.”

“Well of course the baby’s Ray’s, she’s  _ huge _ .” said Zari. Ray shot her a questioning look, prompting her to clarify “I mean, she can’t be more than three or four months old, but she’s pretty effing tall. It’s impressive.”

“Did you just say  _ effing _ ?” asked Sara, smiling.

“I’m censoring myself in front of the small and impressionable child.”

Sara tilted her head in response, accepting the answer, and pulled her phone out of her back pocket “Do you want me to try and call Laurel? See what she knows about custody arrangements and all the legal stuff? I know she’s in town visiting for a meeting. And I’m pretty sure we can’t just claim a doorstep baby as our own without some kind of background check.”

Ray exhaled and then nodded “It’s probably best if we get this all sorted out as soon as we can.”

“I’ll go make some calls.”

Sara retreated to her room, leaving Nate, Ray, and Zari alone in the living area.

“I can keep her in my room, if that would be easiest.” offered Zari, “If you two are bunking together, it might get a little crowded with a baby in there.”

“You don’t have to do that.” said Ray “She’s my baby, she’s my responsibility.”

Zari sat up and ran her finger along the plastic edge of the carseat Hailey was still contently seated in.

“I get that you want to be super-dad and all, but at least let me take her off your hands until Nate gets settled in.”

“Okay. Fair enough.” agreed Ray.

“Do we have like… a crib?” asked Nate.

Ray shook his head “We’ll have to go shopping for, well,  _ everything _ . For now though I guess we could just let her sleep in the car seat carrier.”

Sara walked back in, running a hand through her hair and typing something on her phone.

“Alright, so Laurel didn’t pick up but I called some other friends so people might be filtering in and out with old baby stuff.” Sara paused, making a point of sighing before she continued “I also texted  _ Ava _ . She’s a law student so hopefully she’ll be able to help us figure out what kind of paperwork we’ll need to get, at the very least.”

“Is this parenting? Are we doing it?” Asked Zari with a smile, standing up from her spot on the couch to get a better look at the scene unfolding before her.

Sara was hard at work, trying to contact anyone she knew that could help, even those that drove her up a wall. Nate was crouched down, playing peek-a-boo and being unashamedly silly and affectionate towards a child he had only just met. Ray was softly staring at his daughter. His  _ daughter.  _ Because Ray had a baby now and even though he’d barely known for an hour, it was clear how he’d do anything to give her the best life he could. What exactly that meant, no one was sure, but they’d figure it out in a matter of time. Right now, though? RIght now, Zari’s three idiot roommates were all focusing solely on the infant in front of them, and that’s a pretty damn good start.

“I think we are.” Zari whispered to herself, quietly answering her own question.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my gosh hello again everyone! I took a hiatus from writing that lasted about a year but I'm finally back and I'm glad to be posting again. This story is one I've been planning and working on since summer of 2019 and I'm so glad I'm finally getting a chance to share it with you all. Ideally I'll be posting chapter updates once a week but as a little quarantine treat these first few chapters might come out a little sooner to give everyone something to read. This story is written in three "acts" each about 10 chapters long and each act has its own story arc along with plots and subplots. This doesn't change much from a reader's perspective but it's something I felt I should point out and it's something to keep an eye out for as the story progresses. My tumblr @ has changed about a billion times since I was last active on ao3 but don't hesitate to drop a follow @nora-tarazi (aaaaand maybe send in some writing prompts because I'm easing my way back into one-shots, too). That's all for now but please remember that comments fuel me so if you want to drop one that would be kinda awesome.


End file.
